Employment status

Rates of pay

The ISM’s annual fees surveys show that the lowest minimum hourly rate reported by self-employed teachers working in schools has fallen by over £10 since 2016 to £16 per hour. However, the highest reported hourly rate has risen by over £20 in the same period. Despite these changes, the average rate remained the same at £32 between 2016 and 2019, rose by £2 in 2020 and again in 2021 to £36.

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Lowest rate £26.64 £27 £10 £11.33 £15 £16 Average rate £32 £32 £32 £32 £32 £36 Highest rate £38 £39 £40 £57 £57 £60

For employed teachers working in schools, the figures are slightly lower for the average and highest rates, but higher for the lower rate:

2019 2020 2021

Lowest rate £10.23 £22.88 £23 Average rate £30.06 £30 £33.85 Highest rate £60 £40.50 £42.50

In a 2021 survey of over 350 peripatetic teachers, 33% of respondents reported that their annual gross income from peri teaching was less than £10,000 compared with 15% earning more than £25,000.

less than £10,000 (33%) £10,000-20,000 (34%) £21,000-25,000 (18%) situation to balance as increasing fees may lead to a reduction in pupils and, as a result, teachers’ overall income.

Some schools and music services are charging parents more than teachers are being paid, in some cases almost double:

‘Pro rata, over 20 years, my pay is less now than it was when I started teaching…’ ‘Need to raise fees but know families can’t afford it…’

‘Pay levels and increases offered by music hubs seem to be operating at an absolute minimal level. No doubt it is all they can afford…The 27p per hour increase I have received this year is a bit of a joke – although I don’t blame my employer.’

‘Parents struggling to pay £30 per hour or £7.50 for a joint half hour lesson in schools – no chance of increase in fees.’

‘Parents finding cost of music lessons more difficult especially parents in junior schools. My fees of £30 per hour have not increased in 6 years or more.’

more than £25,000 (15%) ‘I know the school charge parents £45 per hour whereas I am paid £28.’

‘My other private school I have a contract with but invoice the school half termly, who charge parents £50 per hour and pay us VMTs just over £30.’

Many peripatetic teachers had not seen an increase in their wages for a number of years and some were reluctant to charge higher prices either due to their location (believing that there was a limit to what parents would pay) or circumstances of the children they were teaching. It is often a difficult ‘My four schools charge parents between £44 and £76 an hour for music lessons and I get between £28.85 and £30.30 for this which includes holiday pay!!’ ‘Fees parents pay are almost double of what peris get…’

‘The music service charge the schools/parents a lot more for my services than I am paid. This makes schools and parents think I am very well paid, when actually I get around half what they pay.’

‘The college put up fees for students by £5 p/h but do not increase instrumental teachers’ pay, remaining at £24/hr for many years.’ ‘Parents have been charged an increase from £4 to £6 for 20 minutes. The peri staff haven’t received a penny of this increase.’

‘Schools seem to ‘cream off’ a large portion of the fees they charge the students. My hourly rate of pay is just over what is charged for a 30-minute lesson.’

Many teachers also feel that there is no recognition of either their qualifications or experience when it comes to their rates of pay. The ISM’s annual fees survey data from 2018 – 2021 shows that the majority of respondents have been teaching for more than 15 years, yet there are often no clear pay progression routes unlike those of classroom teachers.

2018 2019 2020 2021

0-5 years 15% 14% 13% 11% 6-15 years 24% 24% 24% 25% Over 15 years 61% 60% 63% 63%

‘The hourly rate of about £31 reflects neither my experience nor my qualifications including my doctorate.’ ‘I feel we should be paid as a member of staff the same as a class teacher. I know many VMTs or peris who drive taxis or similar in order to actually afford to pay bills etc as they don’t earn enough during the year. I think this is a real shame that such highly qualified people often Masters and above qualifications are reduced to having to work several jobs in order to survive.’

‘Pay is very low (I have a music degree, a postgrad performance qualification and further professional qualifications as a Suzuki teacher)…’

‘Work in the state sector is far too low paid for the skill required and workload…I have been teaching for 25 years yet I earn only 15k/year for a 0.6 job and it isn’t even secure.’

Unpaid work

While the hourly rates of pay for peripatetic staff may seem much higher than the National Minimum or National Living Wage, many teachers report a large amount of ‘invisible’ work which effectively reduces this rate. ISM survey data shows that on a typical day, including evenings, almost half of respondents (47%) spent between 30 minutes and 1 hour on essential administrative tasks such as answering emails from parents, with just over a quarter of respondents (26%) spending more than an hour on these tasks. And 93% of respondents were required to write reports as part of their role but were not necessarily paid for the time to write them.

‘The thing that bothers me the most is the sheer amount of admin expected (timetabling, answering emails, reports, sourcing and administering music etc) which is unpaid and completely extra to our hourly rate.’

‘Paid for specific compulsory training – but not for report writing/teaching admin of any other type.’

‘This is becoming a serious problem impacting on antisocial hours and time I should be spending with my children. The work is unpaid but expected by the Director of Music.’ ‘However many students I have, I have to allocate a day at each school as I have to operate a rotating timetable in two schools so that children miss different lessons each week.’

‘More gaps between each pupil has meant longer working hours for less money.’

Many teachers are working more hours than they are actually paid for as a result of large gaps in their day due to timetabling restrictions or having to re-arrange lessons at short notice. This can also result in a loss of income where lessons are unable to be re-arranged.

‘Every few weeks I will suddenly be told I have to re-arrange all my lessons at very short notice due to an unavoidable school clash. This creates chaos, stress and sometimes a loss of income.’

‘Some schools want me early in the day but the next school can’t accommodate me until a room is free so I have empty time in the middle.’ ‘The schools sometime cancel the days when the peris are booked, sometimes with less than 24h notice and we don’t get paid if the school cancel.’

‘I could finish teaching earlier if my music service doesn’t leave long gaps between different schools teaching times. It’s unpaid time that I can’t use for anything productive.’

‘I lose money trying to coordinate my hours around different schools. If they give notice of changes to timetable in advance, it’s manageable, but they often don’t and put the onus on me to rearrange or insist you make up the time or don’t get paid.’ ‘If they are on a trip no pay, often Director of Music tells parent pupil doesn’t need to attend but I don’t get paid, so he’s giving away my income’

‘It takes me 40 hours to earn 20.’

‘Gaps are unpaid. For example, 08.15am start 1800pm finish but with only 4 students between that time. Lessons cannot be scheduled in many academic lessons. I use the time to practice, do admin, too far from home to travel back so a lot of waiting around.’

Some peripatetic teachers were even working for free to support their pupils and schools.

‘I have to do quite a lot of unpaid work as school cannot afford to pay me for all the work I do. This is usually accompanying choirs/concerts/ exam but also some teaching.’

Holiday pay

The ISM has always maintained that the annual holiday entitlement of VMTs and peripatetic teachers should be calculated in the same way as for any other worker – by taking a week’s pay and multiplying it by 5.6 – yet many employers are calculating holiday pay based on term-time teaching hours only. In November 2021, the Supreme Court heard the case of Harpur Trust v Brazel which is a landmark case on holiday pay.56 ISM member Lesley Brazel brought a formal grievance against her employer in 2013 after they pro-rated her holiday pay to term time only as she didn’t teach during school holidays. Harpur Trust based its calculations on Acas guidance, which was designed to work out the holiday pay of casual workers and which has since been withdrawn.

In March 2015, Mrs Brazel launched an employment tribunal claim under the Working Time Regulations. Although she lost her initial case, she appealed and the Employment Appeal Tribunal found in her favour. The case was appealed by Harpur Trust and the Court of Appeal found in Mrs Brazel’s favour in August 2019. The Supreme Court dismissed the Harpur Trust’s appeal on 20 July 2022. The judgment states that, ‘The amount of leave to which a part–year worker under a permanent contract is entitled is therefore not required to be, and under domestic law must not be, pro–rated to be proportional to that of a full–time worker.57

ISM’s peripatetic survey data found that respondents had a very mixed experience of how their holiday pay was calculated if they did receive it. ‘Every drop in pay affects my holiday pay and pension contributions.’

‘I used to receive holiday pay, though I don’t know how it was calculated, but since April 2021 my school has taken it away, so my hourly rate went down’ ‘They [the school] have recently changed the way that holiday is paid so that I have even less in my monthly pay during term.’

‘I have never received holiday pay in my 20 years of working at schools and for a music service. I once questioned an employer about this early in my career. He told me that holiday pay was wrapped up in the hourly rate. I pointed out that this was no longer allowed but he would not budge so I left the school where I had two full days of teaching.’

‘Holiday pay is rarely more than 4 weeks and is worked out on an average over the year in most schools, which does not reflect the variation in pay due to enforced reduction in teaching in the spring and summer term.’

holiday pay is pro-rated to term time only (16%)

not sure, but fairly certain holiday pay is pro-rated to term-time only (15%)

no, I get 5.6 weeks holiday pay a year, not pro-rated (4%) not sure, but fairly certain holiday pay is not pro-rated to term-time only (3%)

don’t know how holiday pay is calculated (19%)

not paid any holiday pay (36%) other (7%)